The Half Life of Stars

by Louise Wener

Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough? Set between London and Miami, this is the story of a family with ghosts to bury. It opens on the day of the Challenger shuttle explosion at Cape Canaveral: a tragic moment that rips this family apart and sets Daniel's disappearance in motion some 18 years later. In the midst of it all sits Claire—divorced, irresponsible, fluent in six foreign languages yet hopeless at interpreting life. It is Claire who knows Daniel best. It is Claire who becomes convinced that she knows where her older brother is and sets off on a journey to find him.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Action, Family, British Literature, London, Adventure

306 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2006

About the author

Louise is an English writer, singer, songwriter and guitarist of the band Sleeper.

Reviews

[Michael Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, I only bought this book because it was by Louise Wener, who used to be singer with the band Sleeper, and I wondered whether her prose was as good as her lyrics. The plot synopsis, etc, isn't the kind of thing that would normally grab my attention.

I'm really glad I did buy it. Firstly, to answer my own question: yes, her prose is exquisite.

The story was captivating, the characters extraordinary, and the whole thing held me hooked.

It was laugh out loud funny in places, but also contains some very profound comments. I found that by the end of the book I had highlighted quite a number of passages.

Recommended, and I'll be acquiring her other books.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who like novels where everything ties up nicely and where every event has some significance in the final analysis will find much to enjoy here. Having enjoyed the light, chatty feel of the story I was surprised, not to say impressed, when I reached the end and realised how many important little details had been sneaked into the plot.

Beginning in Florida with the events of the space shuttle disaster of 1986, an event most people my age and above will remember well, there is a celestial theme running doggedly through the novel, even finding its way into the title, but it is rather more a story about relationships and the people and culture of Miami. Particularly impressive were the sections taking place in that city as the narrator Claire befriends wannabe star Tess (“I’m managed by a friend of Lenny Kravitz’s hairdresser”) – they felt as though they had been a lot of fun to write and consequently were a lot of fun to read. There was a serious side to the novel too, and in particular I thought the paragraph where Claire describes her late father was an outstanding piece of writing.

The were one or two negatives for me but they were very minor. First person present tense usually starts grating on me after a couple of hundred pages, like an overdose of something syrupy, and it was the same here. And I found it curious how Claire arrives in Florida after years and years away from the USA and starts talking about people “fixing coffee”. Nobody fixes anything in the UK unless it’s broken, or it’s a snooker match. Maybe it was meant to be a case of “when in Rome...” but it felt odd. Those things aside, I liked this very much and hope to read more by this author.

[Beth Dillon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatable family dynamics with an interesting main character, this was an unexpected page-turner and a very easy read. I totally judged the book by its cover, and probably would never have read it had the cover not drawn me in, and I'm happy to report I wasn't disappointed. I really enjoyed the way the dialogue conveyed so much of the story (and sometimes so much that went unsaid). I also really liked how Wener used the Challenger and Columbia space tragedies to root the significant events in this family's past - very clever.

[Jess Boulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book originally because the author is the lead singer of the band sleeper. I found it intriguing and her use of language is beautiful as are her lyrics. I do feel that 2006 when it was published was a different time and there are a few jokes of poor taste such as the character who works in a Japanese restaurant having all her dialect written out in an uncomfortable broken English stereotype. The plot ties together well and there are lots of twists in the last few pages and I found the couple Claire stays with whilst in Miami are hilarious! A snake tamer who does nothing but make cocktails with crushed Valium and worry about whether or not she should get a boob job and her balding, washed up actor boyfriend who she’s infatuated with. I would still recommend this lighthearted and easy read!

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louise Wener's astute prose hits close to home, conveying the unending struggle to understand ourselves and those we once thought we knew. There are no easy answers. But the journey is just as meaningful without a definite destination.

The Half Life of Stars features true-to-life characters, who struggle to move beyond erstwhile regrets and broken relationships. They fixate on that wrong turn they believed had changed their lives, trying to fix what had gone wrong in the past, all the while letting the present slip away.

Many can relate to that constant wondering that holds us back, whether things might have turned out differently. If only we had made the right choice back then. If only we knew what the right choice was, and is.

[Juju · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main character Claire seems to be fluent in every language from Japanese to Russian ( but apparently it's "only" 7) I'd love to be! But she has low self esteem & clings to her douche bag ex husband. Her brother vanishes after work & she tries to track him down, meeting some weird & wonderful characters on the way. I did enjoy the journey & was glad it wasn't a predictable ending.

[Erica Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good and an unexpected page turner for me. I took off a star because there were random changes in speakers without indication of who was speaking or a flashback without indication. I definitely had to go back and re read those paragraphs to make sure I had understood what happened.

[Fallon Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start and a little slow throughout but I enjoyed the story in general. It was a little confusing to read with the way it would go from past to present mid page with no pauses. Who doesn't love a little family drama though?

[Teresa D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did laugh out loud occasionally whilst reading this

[MiffyReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book in a charity shop and I'm so glad I bought it. Brilliant book with fantastic characters and a great story. I couldn't put it down, definitely one of my favourites.

[Paschalis]

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[Lucy Dawson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just feel like very little happened and I just didn't want to pick it up.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Finished only because I wanted to finish. Too slow and not at all entertaining.

[Tagra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a tough one to rate, made ironic by the fact that I almost didn't read this. I selected it, looked at the cover, hesitated, read the synopsis, and thought to myself "ehhhh I don't think I'm in the mood for this right now" and then tried reading a different book which turned out to be god awful, so I came back to this and I went "Well, at least it can't be THAT bad" and dove in. Silly me. This is why I shouldn't break my rule of just diving into books and seeing what happens, judging them on their own merits instead of pre-judging them by their covers and synopsis and previous reviews!

I really enjoyed it, and I kept waffling back and forth between 4 and 5 stars. The plot was well done, the characters had real life to them, and the language was wonderful. And every now and then there'd be a big twist that made perfect sense but I didn't see it coming and I'd think "okay this is definitely 5 stars". Then there would be a badly edited sequence where words were misused ("I couldn't bare to do it" came up a few times and I'm pretty sure this isn't just a UK language thing, because it doesn't make sense that you simply cannot get naked in order to accomplish this thing right now, does it? Or... does it...). I love heavy dialogue, especially when the characters are as vivid as this, but sometimes the dialogue was so poorly edited that you couldn't tell who was saying what and I'd start to get distracted and lose the flow. Unfortunate. I'd give it a solid 4.5 stars and I'm still really torn on whether to round up or down.

You know what... it's been sitting on 4 stars the whole time I typed this but, fuck it, I'll round it up to 5. The writing and characters just had a brutal honesty that I could relate to. I hated her family, because they were too real. That's worth 5 stars. The surprising plot that didn't leave any threads was just icing.

[Ian Kirkpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been working my way through Louise Wener’s novels and I have reached her third “The Half Life of Stars”. It’s been interesting to chart her development as a writer. In many ways her third novel is a more ambitious story than either of her first two books, although there are some thematic similarities; Claire’s search for her missing brother Daniel could almost be an echo of Audrey’s search for her missing father in The Big Blind.

However one of the most striking differences is Wener’s growing confidence with dialogue. The conversational flow in this novel is excellent, and I really enjoyed the voice that Wener gives to Claire, her main protagonist, which is spiky, awkward and belligerent. I loved the character’s ability to deal with the cruel and dismissive put-downs from her dysfunctional family, which made me root for her all the more. The plotting within the novel is also well-handled with a host of seemingly disconnected plot threads becoming slowly intertwined and eventually resolved.

The American section of the novel is particularly powerful and I loved the descriptions of the scenery, the way of life, and the acutely-observed details with which Wener weaves a rich tapestry.

The characterisation is really strong, and despite the reasonably large cast there is a clear differentiation between the various characters. I enjoyed the pace of her writing, and found that I had quickly devoured the book without being aware of the passage of time.

If I have any criticism it’s probably directed towards the epilogue which I simply found too long. Although it’s very cleverly done, my feeling is that it would have been much more powerful at a quarter of the length. Sometimes less can be more.

However overall I found this to be both readable and satisfying, which seems a good balance.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beach read...smart, funny,engaging

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first attracted to this book because of a real life missing person case that I'm really interested in and always wondering how he went missing and where he is an if he is okay. His name is Owen Roony, which I'm aware isn't what this review is about, but if you are interested in this book, then you'll be interested in this REAL LIFE missing person case. More at http://www.find-owen.com/

About the book - I definately enjoyed the theme, as I said I'm really interested in the whole idea of why people go missing and what the family experiences and all of that.
I think Louise Wener did a great job at conveying how this would feel from both ends of the story, but I wasn't quite so much a fan of her writing style. I found it at times hard to follow, especially towards the end when the pace was picking up and I think she wanted it to come across as rushed and excited, but instead I feel confused and I found myself keep checking if I'd missed pages (I hadn't.) - Did anyone else find that?
That being said, I definately enjoyed the book and I'm glad I read it, and I would recommend it to others. I'm not sure I'd be keen to read anymore books by Wener though, she did a good job with the plot and the characters and I did feel compelled to keep reading, there were just too many occasions where I felt reminded I was reading a book and it was a made up story, which I find really off putting.

[Myiesha Speight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claire's family are a bunch of jerks and she's the only real redeemable character in this entire thing. Okay that's probably a little harsh, but her family was just so disrespectful that it was uncomfortable, and half the time she didn't deserve it. I loved Claire's character the best, obviously, and the growth she experienced throughout the course of the book. How she grew to love herself, accept herself and stand up for who she was. All the characters go through their changes and become less jerky in one or the other, but that does absolutely nothing to the damage done by their unnecessary jerkiness in the beginning. The book as a whole is well-written, the metaphors are amazing and wonderfully out there. The dialogue is a little hard to follow at some points and by that I mean, it's a tad bit confusing which person is talking. You can figure it out easily in some points, but other times it took me more re-reads than I would have liked. There were a couple parts that were out there (like how in the heck does this fit with the rest of the book out there), but it somehow fits together and is all resolved by the end. The book wasn't perfect by any means, but was still enjoyable nonetheless.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was really disappointing, I really liked Wener's previous novel, "Goodnight Steve McQueen," and her band, Sleeper. This story is about a girl in London who sets off to find her older brother, who has disappeared, abandoning his wife and family. The main problem with the book is that it's really boring, the ending was too cute and neatly packaged, and it was so dialogue-heavy that I lost track of which character was talking because they weren't very interesting. There were like three plot twists in the last 50 pages I didn't see coming because I didn't expect any at all, so I guess that was exciting. The only really strong point was the funny couple the main characer stays with in Miami, an angry, balding ex-actor and his girlfriend, whose main dilemma in life is deciding whether or not to get breast implants, and also enjoys making margaritas with crushed up valium mixed in with the salt on the rim of the glasses.

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's still you and the moment you left me", proclaims the lyric from "Sale of the Century", a fine and catchy tune from Ms Wener's earlier musical incarnation as the face of Sleeper.

There's some of that lyric here, perhaps conveniently, in this quirky tale of loss and discovery and the uncertain gloaming in between. Yet despite some serious matters being broached, the whole tone is sorbet-light and cumulus-fluffy, as well as being amusing, winsome, winning and joyous.

This is the fourth of her novels I've read, and as far as I know that's all the fiction she's written to this point. They've all been good too, with a cast of characters that drift slightly to the wings of normal and with a feel as catchy as some of Sleeper's songs. We definitely need some more of Ms Wener's fiction if it's as readable and full of heart as this, and I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one whose anticipation has a very short half-life.

[Keris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire's overachieving older brother walks out of his office and out of his life. Daniel is married, rich and successful, but one day near to Christmas he simply disappears into thin air.

Claire, who is not making a conspicuous success of her own life, is convinced she understands Daniel best and sets out to look for him.

Set between in Miami and London, in both the past and the present, The Half Life of Stars explores a dysfunctional family, long-burried secrets and the nature of happiness and loss.

To read the rest of this review (and more!) please visit Trashionista

[Judith Yeabsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book from the first page. It was a little left of centre and witty in a cynical and very English way. The main character is Claire and she is dysfunctional which fits in nicely with the rest of the family. She is treated so harshly by her alcoholic mother and favoured sister but it's so typical of families and done with a sort of self deprecating humour. The older brother disappears and the novel revolves around why and what to do about it. The plot is a little fanciful and the ending a little neat and tidy but it was a great read and I would pick another of the author's books in a heartbeat.

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't have very high expectations regarding this book but it was a pleasant surprise. Louise Wener writes about serious issues without losing a sardonic sense of humour and irony. The Florida scenarios were a little crazy and over the top but were part of its quirkiness. And there were a few details that, simply for personal reasons, made me warm up to the book. Sometimes it just feels like a book was written with a spare thought for you and it feels special.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt fresh, modern and original: sister goes in search of her disappeared brother and understands more about her family as a result. Some wacky characters and twists along the way. But didn't feel particularly gripped by it.

[Jamie Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right blend of sardonic British humor, dysfunctional family drama and mystery as a caring but directionless sister searches for her missing brother who has suddenly vanished without a trace. I could’ve done without the subplot of the eccentric Florida couple.

[annc · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really cool one about one girl, the irresponsible sibling, who went off to search for her older brother.

[Ghislaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting. It has an element of intrigue as the mystery of the missing brother unfolds. It can be a little crass at times, but overall a very enjoyable pleasure read.

[Wendy]

This book made me laugh out loud quite a few times. The Characters were nutty, funny and unique.
The Astronomy understory was very interesting.

[Tennessee O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book ...lots going on with the characters, kept me coming back for more..an enjoyable read

[Tiah]

Dysfunctional family at its best. Great dialogue. Intriguing social commentary.